


Heat Snap

by EzraTheBlue



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, Food, Gen, Pre-Canon, Prompto Takes a Dare, Spicy Peppers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:41:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23595514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EzraTheBlue/pseuds/EzraTheBlue
Summary: Prompto's love for spicy things came from the heart.(A brief history of Prompto with relation to hot stuff.)
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia & Prompto Argentum & Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia
Comments: 8
Kudos: 69





	Heat Snap

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written for the Prompto Chocobo Zine! The version in the magazine came with some really cute art, but I thought it would still be worthwhile to share the story! Enjoy!

**Heat Snap**

Prompto had read somewhere that spicy food tempered appetite and increased metabolism. Heat made you eat slower, so you’d feel full faster, and your body would burn more calories! It sounded too good to be true. Prompto had gotten used to things that were too good to be true  _ not _ being true, but he needed to do something about his diet. His chunky, clumsy salads weren’t cutting it. 

Prompto sat alone at his kitchen table, gripping a fork staring down at the red daggerquill breast, coated with piquant red pepper powder. He could smell the spice on it already. It actually made his mouth water. The last time he’d tried anything spicy was when he dared try one of those green peppers that came when you ordered pizza, and his father laughed at him as he gulped down water to clean his tongue. Now, his parents were away and he’d cooked up all his meat for the week in the spiciest seasoning he could find in the pantry.

“Come on,” he told himself, and bit his lip as he carved a bite off. “You can do this. You don’t… wanna be heavy, right?” He looked down at his lap and pinched some of the chub at his waist. This would help Noctis like him, right? If he could eat this, then he could be someone Noctis would want to be friends with. Besides, Noctis could do this, couldn’t he? He was the Prince. He could do anything.

Prompto squeezed his eyes shut, his glasses scrunching up into his brow, and he pictured Noctis and Lunafreya there with him, cheering him on. 

_ “You can do it!” _ Lunafreya would say.

_ “It’ll be so cool if you do it!” _ Noctis would be smiling.

Prompto speared the daggerquill and tucked in. The spice rolled across his tongue first, and his mouth watered more as the heat hit him. His forehead broke a sweat, but he chewed twice, letting the burning sensation settle, before swallowing. He panted and fanned himself, but realized something: that burn actually felt kind of good now. Plus, the daggerquill wasn't plain anymore!

“It’s tasty!” Prompto grinned and carved off another piece. Noctis and Luna would be so proud! 

From there, it was a series of little discoveries that pushed Prompto’s boundaries. He could scramble his eggs with pepper powder, or he could cut up Leide peppers into the scramble, making it more filling, radiating with satisfying heat. He swapped out ketchup for salsa on sandwiches or as dip. He’d add red pepper flakes to frozen vegetables or rice. There was a satisfying zing to spicy steak grilled with strips of hot peppers, and he found that spicy curry or chili powder made even chocobeans interesting. He put hot sauce on everything. He’d even add hot pepper sauce to tomato juice. His bland diet came to life, searing his tongue but lighting up his heart.

Even better, as he broadened his horizons, his confidence stretched, too.

He kept running and getting stronger, tracking his progress with pictures of his weight loss and snapshots of his favorite meals. Finally, stoked like a flame, Prompto built up the nerve to run up to Noctis, smiling, and slap him on the back like they’d been friends forever. Noctis turned around, grinned back, and Prompto fulfilled his promise to Lunafreya.

Noctis was the spice of his life, and when his friends became Prompto’s, they were another kick of excitement. Ignis was cordial, but his sarcasm had bite, and Gladio was in your face like a habanero. Noctis liked everything about him: he laughed at his jokes, they played the same games, and he was always down for adventure. Even better, he ended up starting them:

“You’re eating that?” Noctis pointed at Prompto’s lunch box, a peppery daggerquill rice bowl. 

“Oh, yeah!” Prompto startled, then grinned. “I love hot stuff, heat makes everything tasty!”

Noctis got a curious gleam in his eye. “How hot do you like it?”

That night, Noctis took him home with a challenge in mind: the Ravatogh Reaper. It sat on the counter, innocuous, a thumb-sized crescent of waxy fruit, but its crimson hue told Prompto it meant  _ business _ . “It’s supposed to be hotter than Ifrit.” Noctis, shoulder to shoulder with Prompto, stared down ominously at the pepper. “Gladio thought Iggy wouldn’t notice it was different from the Leide peppers. He wanted to see me burn my mouth off.” Noctis snickered as Ignis, reviewing papers at the table, snorted.

“I can see from here that one’s a horse of a different color.”

“Yeah, most Leides are more firetruck red!” Prompto grinned, then looked back to the pepper. “Okay, so you want me to-”

“Eat it.” Noctis grinned with mischief. “Think you can do it?”

“Oh yeah.”

Prompto had no idea if he could, but he doffed his jacket, loosened his tie, and picked the pepper up. Just then, Gladio poked his head in the door. “Is he really gonna do it?”

“He’s so gonna do it!” Noctis laughed. Gladio cackled and began to empty his gym bag. 

“Hang on, I need my camera!”

Ignis sighed and folded his papers over. “If we’re going to do this, let me have a glass of milk ready.” He gave Prompto a reproachful look as he approached the refrigerator. “The fat in dairy neutralizes capsaicin.”

“Good to know!” Prompto winked, then turned the pepper over. His fingers were tingling just touching it. Oh, this was gonna hurt. 

“You’re so cool,” Noctis chuckled, and Prompto glanced to him. “I have trouble eating hot stuff at all.”

“Really?” Prompto’s jaw fell. 

“He never tries. Although,” Ignis said, a smile in his tones, “If you pass this trial, I think Noctis could  _ try _ my spicy green curry soup for you.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever, Prompto, do it!” Noctis bounced on his heels, and Prompto geared himself up. 

Noctis and Gladio were cheering him on, “You got this! You can do it!” 

Ignis was watching, cautious but encouraging. 

Grinning bravely, Prompto bit down.

How could clumsy salads in an empty kitchen compare to this?

The searing heat rushed past his teeth to his ears and filled him from head to toe, and Prompto was sure he’d gone supernova. He braced himself against the white-hot fire in his mouth, as the tiny pepper rocked his world. As the tears welled into his eyes, as Ignis pushed a glass into his hand, as Gladio took the snapshot, Noctis was laughing and patting his back, “You did it! He actually did it!”

Prompto turned back to the others and basked in Ignis' reluctant mirth. Gladio's laughter, and Noctis' beaming grin, and smiled back through his tears. That burning in his heart was nothing but love.


End file.
